Wine nutrition and health benefits is a topic of a great deal of research worldwide and wine has been reported to come with a variety of health benefits. Wine is made by fermenting different types of crushed grapes using different types of yeast, usually containing 10 to 15 percent alcohol by volume.
Wine Facts:
• Third president and a founding father of the United States Thomas Jefferson had a passion for wine. His salary was $25,000 per year at the time and he spent $3000 on wine!
• Iran used to have a thriving wine industry that disappeared after the Islamic Revolution in 1979. In Iran, mei- Persian wine has been a central theme of poetry for more than a thousand years.
• 20 million acres are used for grape planting worldwide.
• Grapes are ranked as the world’s number one fruit crop.
• Oldest wine that has ever been reviewed was 200 years old.
• Red wines represent 55% of restaurant wine sales.
• 1 ton of grapes yields 63 cases of wine.
Wine Nutrition and Health Benefits:
• A glass of red contains very small amounts of carbs and protein but no fat. Wine is not a good source of vitamins and minerals.
• Wine has a very long history of use as an early form of medication.
• Many long term studies with large populations concluded that most healthy people who drink red wine regularly and moderately live longer.
• A glass of dry wine has 100 calories and a sweet dessert wine has about 230 calories. Wine or alcohol is not ideal for people that are aiming to lose weight.
• Best known benefit of wine is protecting against or lowering the rate of heart disease. But be very careful.. this benefit is not for heavy drinkers, who tend to have an elevated risk while moderate drinkers have less: a J curve association. Moderate means no more than two drinks for men and no more than one drink for women.
• A couple of glasses of wine will help you relax and lower your blood pressure, but more than four will raise your blood pressure to a level of concern.
• A new found benefit attributed to wine- especially red wine is fighting off the common cold, possibility due to its antioxidant properties. According to a year long study at five universities of 4000 volunteers, people who drank more than two glasses of red per day had 44% fewer colds. Same benefit was not observed with beer and spirits.
• Resveratrol- nonalcoholic phytochemical in wine has been shown to prevent blood clotting and plaque formation in arteries by changing lipid profiles and plasma viscosity. Red wine provides much more resveratrol than white. In white wine production, the skin is removed before fermentation, giving white wines a lower concentration in resveratrol than red wines. Also, wines made in cooler climates have greater amounts of resveratrol.
• Resveratol can be used to treat potentially deadly inflammatory disease, such as appendicitis, peritonitis, and systemic sepsis, said a team of scientists from Scotland and Singapore. It works as an effective therapy for life-threatening inflammation.
• When consumed with food, wine boosts the body’s absorption of iron.
What Can Heavy Drinking Do To You?
• Heavy alcohol consumption may have a damaging effect on the cellular process that creates bone tissue.
• Alcohol is a toxin and has the potential to damage cells. Studies have linked consumption of alcohol to increase risk for a variety of cancers including breast, colon and stomach cancer.
• Studies have shown that heavy drinkers put themselves at greater risk for heart disease and developing potentially fatal cardiac arrhythmias.
• One of the short-term effects of alcohol is impaired mental function, which can cause behavioral changes and memory impairment. Long term effects of heavy drinking can inhibit new brain cell development and increase the risk for developing major depressive disorders.
• Drinking too much or too fast may cause nausea, headaches, loss of control and judgement.
• Excessive wine drinking may also cause liver damage.
Wine Glycemic Index:
There are mixed reviews on GI value of wine but red wine has almost no digestible carbs, therefore no effect on blood sugar levels and Glycemic index value is zero. We need to treat any alcoholic beverage as a problematic food since alcohol itself can be de-stabilizing of blood sugar, although red wine may be an exception.